fen

noun

1. A type of wetland fed by ground water and runoff, containing peat below the waterline, characteristically alkaline.

   “Near-synonyms: marsh, swamp, bog, mire”

   “Bogs are acidic, nutrient poor, and have a low species diversity, whereas fens are less acidic and have higher nutrient levels and species diversity.”

   “Bogs are acidic peatlands, while fens are non-acidic peatlands.”

   “[...] fens are alkaline. In fact, the precise acidity of a fen depends on the soil through which in-seeping waters have percolated. Northeastern fens vary from somewhat acidic to highly basic (Johnson, 1985, p. 27).”

2. (broadly)Any swamp or mire (especially with negative connotations).

   “Caliban: As wicked dewe, as ere my mother bruſh'd / With Rauens feather from vnwholeſome Fen / Drop on you both : A Southweſt blow on yee, / And bliſter you all ore.”

   “Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: / England hath need of thee: she is a fen / Of stagnant waters […]”

   “In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp / The hunted Negro lay; …”

   “As the sob of the breeze/Sweeps over the trees/And the mists lie low on the fen...”

   “He was freezing to death in the flat mud of the Suffolk fens, too proud to go home without a catch.”

3. A unit of currency in China, one-hundredth of a yuan.

   “One poster, which appeared on the Barkhor on 20 May, ridiculed the way neighbourhood committees were recruiting participants: “We paid 30 fen for one stone, but you hire people for 30 yuan for the picnic in the Norbulingka” (“30 fen” — one hundred fen is one yuan — is a joking reference to Chinese accusations that Tibetans were paid 30 fen by splittists for each stone thrown on 1 October 1987).”

4. (slang)a plural of fan used by enthusiasts of science fiction, fantasy, and anime, partly from whimsy and partly to distinguish themselves from fans of sport, etc.

   “Sad to relate, some of the European delegates were probably insurgents rather than true fen. […] But the Europeans could be counted on to take the long view, and many of them would probably turn out to be real fen and fenne after all.”

   “So I’m glad the attached hotel block is entirely reserved for disabled fen! Traveling on mass transit is tiring even when everything’s up to code.”

5. (Internet, informal, slang)A fennec fox.

   “Your fursona holding mine while she's arguing with some random person Like you're cradling the little fen & she's screaming out threats”

   “I always wondered why foxes go flat-ear mode whenever they are happy or screaming, very cute fen btw”

   “Just because an animal doesnt fight when you pet them doesn't mean they like it. If a fen's ears are back like that leave them the fuck alone”

   “What a little tooty! BTW I really liked your post on information about fens! Thank you for getting more info out there❣️”

6. (obsolete, uncountable)A kind of mildew that grows on hops.

   “[…]whereby the ſtagnating ſap corrupts, and breeds mouldy fen, which often ſpoils whole tracts of, till then, flouriſhing hop-grounds.”

   “Among these are reckoned the wire worm; the flea, and the fly; the fen or mould; the mildew ; and what are usually called fire blasts.”

   “The mould, the fen, or the mouldy-fen, prevails more on hop-grounds which are low, moist, and sheltered, than on such as are high, dry, and open[…]”

intj

1. (obsolete)Used in children's games to prevent or forestall another player's action; a check or bar.

name

1. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Forsyth–Edwards Notation